emoji

noun

emo·​ji ē-ˈmō-jē 

plural emoji or emojis

: any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in text fields in electronic communication (as in text messages, email, and social media) to express the emotional attitude of the writer, convey information succinctly, communicate a message playfully without using words, etc.

The function of emoji, as [emoji developer Shigetaka] Kurita describes it—adding subtle emotional emphasis to a sentence in text—isn't too different from that of emoticons, the frowny and smiley faces that people have been making out of punctuation since the mid-1990s.

—Britt Peterson

compare emoticon

Examples of emoji in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The curtain rises and there is Foxx with shades on and hands in heart emojis over his chest expressing his love for the crowd. —Ronda Racha Penrice, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Dec. 2024

The 25-year-old's mom also commented, leaving two red heart emojis in the comment section. —Emma Aerin Becker, People.com, 9 Dec. 2024

The digression began after the talk show host flashed a photo of Posey posing with his pants down on an open highway behind his motorcycle, which the actor had posted to social media, covering his rump with a skull emoji. —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024

Don’t worry, this is in the form of a poo emoji appearing on screen. —David Phelan, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Japanese, literally, "pictograph," from e "picture, drawing" + moji "letter, character"

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

emoji

noun

emo·​ji

ē-ˈmō-jē

plural emoji or emojis

: any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in electronic communication (as email) to express the feelings or attitude of the writer or to present information concisely or playfully